Western Regional Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party, Okatakyie Amankwa Afrifa, has confirmed that some members of the party in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Constituency have been disqualified ahead of the branch executive elections.
He said the decision was made strictly in accordance with the party’s laid-down rules and regulations.
The development has resulted in scores of aggrieved party members over the weekend besieging the party’s regional office in Takoradi to protest what they described as unfair disqualifications and delays in feedback from party leadership.
The agitated members alleged that the disqualifications were influenced by former Tarkwa-Nsuaem Member of Parliament George Mireku Duker, a claim the Regional Secretary has firmly rejected.
According to Mr Afrifa, the disqualifications were carried out without fear or favour and not at the behest of any “perceived power or order from above.” He maintained that all affected persons have legitimate avenues to appeal decisions through laid-down party structures and constitutional procedures.
Speaking on ConnectNews’ current affairs and political programme Asem Yi Dzi Ka, Mr Afrifa described the allegations as baseless.
“We swore an oath to serve the party in accordance with the dictates of that oath and have done so without consideration for whoever they claim is behind this matter, whether an MP, minister or any other person. Our only interest in the upcoming elections is to supervise an incident-free process that will strengthen our reorganisation drive,” he stated on May 12.
He also debunked claims that more than 800 party members in Tarkwa-Nsuaem had been disqualified. According to him, the petition that culminated in the disqualifications affected only 159 persons.
Out of that number, 90 cases involved missing nomination forms, 66 involved outright disqualifications, while three involved allegations of tampered nomination forms.
Mr Afrifa explained that only 23 affected persons appealed the decision, with eight of those appeals upheld. He further denied allegations that the regional elections committee had refused to grant audience to affected members, describing the decision by some supporters to besiege the regional office as unfortunate and unnecessary.
“As I speak, some of the affected members have either failed or chosen not to honour our invitation to address the matter. It will also interest you to know that some of the persons claiming their nomination forms are missing already have their names in the register. Indeed, 12 of those persons have already been cleared to contest,” he added.
The Regional Secretary further disclosed that eight individuals who honoured the committee’s invitation denied knowledge of the petition filed in their names, raising concerns over what he described as attempts by some persons to create tension and deepen cracks within the constituency.
“Some of them questioned why any person who claims to love the party would act so diabolically by falsifying a petition merely to create unnecessary tension,” he noted.
With tensions simmering ahead of the branch elections, Mr Afrifa urged party faithful to exercise restraint and resort to the party’s established grievance resolution structures rather than actions that could further inflame divisions.
“Of course, there will be people who may not be happy with some decisions. However, when such situations arise, we urge restraint. We are here for one purpose only — to build and maintain a united front. That responsibility does not rest on the regional executives alone, but on every member of the party, whether holding office or not,” he stressed.
By Eric Yaw Adjei
